I love November. I love sweaters. November is the perfect time to knit sweaters. Shannon must have known this when she created National Knit a Sweater Month knitalong last year. Year two has been a success thus far (only five days in!) and the Aftur pullover is flying off the needles!

The speed and progress of knitting can be attributed to the car rides between my home and Williamsburg, Virginia. Coming back yesterday, I completed the body – knit in the round to about 15.5 inches. I extended the body to accommodate my long torso, and I just hope it is enough. After I knit the sleeves, I will be able to gauge how much yarn I have left, and I may add on another inch for the body. In the meantime, I have started sleeve one on the size 7 double pointed needles.

I was saddened to hear that this yarn, Botanical Shades, is no longer produced. It was a small operation that used only natural fibers and natural dyes – I bought the yarn at Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2006. It is a beautiful blend of alpaca, wool, and mohair. It is naturally dyed with indigo. If you have worked with indigo-dyed yarns before, you know that your fingers and your needles become blue. I do notice some color on the needles, and my hands are slightly blue after knitting, but not nearly as bad as I have witnessed: A friend of mine knit an indigo skirt last spring, and I recall her fingernails being blue, as well as her needles. This is not half as bad.

The traditional Icelandic yoked pullover is a new challenge for me. I have not completed a sweater with colorwork yet, and I am optimistic that this one will work out perfectly. If the yarn colors are any indication, this is going to be a great garment. A fewotherbloggers have made this pullover too – they used the more traditional yarn colors. I am hoping for a good balance with the colors I chose.

28 Responses

What great progress! The color combination is lovely. I’m hoping I can get some gift knitting wrapped up soon so that I can focus back on my (first) sweater this month. The weather this month does indeed seem great for sweaters.

What an amazing color!!! Too bad they are no longer making it. I’m sure there will be plenty of knitters reading this that are going to be jealous that you’ve got some and they can’t get any. I know I am!

I love the colour of your sweater. Mmm blues. I’ve been very into blues lately. I am close to finishing my first sweater, just in time for National Knit a Sweater Month…even though I started last month. I hope to cast on for another one in the next couple of days. =)

Wow, you’ve made tremendous progress! I think you’re on your way to finishing two sweaters again this year…
The color is indeed lovely. The indigo is dyeing my hands and needles a bit, too but not too badly. I didn’t realize that the yarn is out of production. That’s sad, because mine is knitting up just beautifully. Remember the gorgeous deep red shades they had? Shame that’s no longer available.
Godspeed on that colorwork, my friend.

Such a beautiful shade of blue! I’m not much of a colourwork knitter – but I have a huge list of sweaters in my Ravelry queue this year. Only one is a pullover (I like cardigans and the ability to leave them open). There are just so many gorgeous patterns around this year.

Oh, such sweater envy! It’s so beautiful! The color is fabulous, and the yarn looks really yummy. And what you’ve got on the needles there is lovely. My Rogue is slow, because I drove a lot this weekend. Lame. Your sweater rocks.

I love the colors you are using, I think it’s going to balance very well. The indigo in particular is really spectacular. It’s always a shame when you discover that a yarn you love is no longer in production, but at least you’ll have this beautiful sweater to wear all the time. I wonder if your torso will be blue when you take it off! Smurfette Lolly!

What a great sweater! I’ve often ogled it (ah yes, with both amorous invitation and challenge) … the colors are great too. I’ll be interested to hear how the Lopi knits up and blocks — I find it prohibitively scratchy.

Hey, I came across this post MONTHS late. Jody MacKenzie is still in business as Botanical Shades, she moved to Maine but is still dyeing and will be at festivals. Yay! I love her yarns.
-gale – the new blog, she is in our book! http://ww.shearspirit.typepad.com